A Chocolate Hiatus.

When we first did Solid Egg in 2012 as a one-off, inspired by a mate’s casual observation about childhood Easter disappointment, we went from amusing idea to fully-branded, ready-to-roll product in just a few weeks.

A creative project by Leigh and I, it was only ever intended to be for excited friends and a few keen clients and colleagues - the word ‘profit’ wasn’t even in the brief we wrote for ourselves!

But to our surprise, it proved so popular it sold out in a couple of weeks. The next year, encouraged by fans of gluttony we made triple - and sold out again. Then we doubled production again - and sold out once more. We changed the packaging every year, to keep it fresh - and collectible. We did gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, organic; we did vegan, we did pralines, peanut butter and ethical chocolate, and our packaging was 100% recyclable. As the range, the girth of the eggs and our bellies expanded, word spread, and the eggs kept selling out. Bought by chocolate lovers as far-flung as Japan, LA, New York, Korea, New Zealand and Australia, we had a cracking time hatching as many egg puns as it’s possible to find.

For three months of the year, running Solid Egg is like having a second full-time job - so we stopped calling it a Side Project a long time ago. But as creative projects go, it's been great; providing outlets for flexing some packaging muscle, trying out advertising ideas, getting our marketing heads on for something other than illustration, and talking to keen chocolate fans, connoisseurs and suppliers the world over. But in the last couple of years, we’ve had elements of our hand-drawn logo poached, our advertising copy ‘borrowed’, our authenticity challenged, and had eggs thrown at us on social media by puzzlingly furious trolls questioning our motives and ethics; quite the learning curve - but not what we started Solid Egg for. 

We have a lot on the agenda this year, and we can only give our best to so many things - so, more than the brief spell of trolling or the dubious copying, this was really more about being honest with ourselves around where we want and need to put our energies. So we've parked Solid Egg for 2019. Already we're getting lovely emails and messages across social media expressing disappointment but absolute positivity about the product - so we're not saying 'it's over', more...we shall see.

Over the last 6 years we know we’ve made a lot of people very happy (and possibly a bit fatter), so we want to thank all our eggcited fans, loyal customers and supporters who came back year after year. You made our daft project a lot of fun!

Here's to narrower waistlines,*

Leigh + Sarah x

(*genuinely - we actually do put weight on while we're running the project. We think it's because of the ever-present smell of chocolate...)